Montessori Practical Life at Home--Two Ways to Make Banana Pudding
Food Prep: Bananas Two Ways
Both Begin with Banana Slicing, Which Toddlers Can Do!
Find Ways Children Can Be Independent at Snack Time or Help You Make Dessert
Both of these banana dishes came from cookbooks from the nineties, so they may be hard to find (but see below if you want to buy used copies). The first is a simple and straightforward snack that would be great for mid-morning or the afternoon munchies. I used a small applesauce that's in our "school lunch" stash, but you could easily have a child use some from a larger jar of store-bought applesauce or make your own (that's another video on another day!). Be aware: peeling open these containers may be tricky, so I would suggest starting the opening process when setting up your snack area in the early morning.
Here are the steps laid out as index cards. You can create these easily for any snack.
Banana Yogurt Pudding Sequence
Applesauce lid already "started" a bit, two sizes of measuring spoons out, fork and grapefruit knife ready to go. Any safe serrated knife will do, even a disposable one. The knife is not pointy, so that's not a safety concern, but you should point out the teeth, explaining that the back-and-forth motion can really cut--even a finger! (Oops I forgot the yogurt. Set that out, too, unless it's going to spoil in a heat. You could try setting the yogurt in a bowl of ice.)
Slice in half. You could also just provide a banana half to begin with.
Mash with fork.
Measure and add applesauce.
Stir together with fork.
Measure and add yogurt.
Mix together and eat! This was surprisingly sweet and yummy.
Banana Chocolate Chip Pudding
Oopsie--This Was Supposed to Be Banana Bread (See Video)
But it Was Delicious and Gluten-Free Without the Flour, as a Pudding!
Apparently learning how to film while baking was a bit too much for me, so I forgot a very important ingredient to the banana bread. But no worries--it came out delicious as banana pudding! We enjoyed eating it straight, as a dessert, and also put it on top of ice cream. A good lesson in "happy accidents"! Also, in order to mash the banana I used two different kitchen tools: the potato masher and the pastry knife. It's always nice to find an excuse to introduce new tools and for the child to have to use various grips.
Maybe you could have a "snack window" on your schedule in the morning, such as 10:00-10:45 (or whatever makes sense for your routine). So at 9:55 you set out the materials, enough so that each child gets exactly one serving. If they need a demo, you could set out enough for you to prepare yourself a snack while they watch. Then it's available for that period of time and you put it away. If you think that won't work and they will ALL want to eat at the same time, that's fine, too! Just set up their places at a low table so that they each have their own ingredients and they can work in parallel. That way snack time can include some lessons in Grace and Courtesy and how to make chit chat/take turns/be careful not to talk with your mouth full, etc. That may have a wonderful impact on dinnertime conversation and overall civilized behavior!
As far as space, this is on a very small table that is at the end of our kitchen island. It think it cost less than $5 at a garage sale and is the perfect height for a small child to stand and work at, then eat at a different table. We have one low cabinet with children's utensils, plates and cups, but you could also have one of those rolling carts that are so popular right now--as long as you don't expect a small child to reach things too high. Side note: I installed three locks in our cupboards/closets as soon as we moved into this house with small children. The first was for the knife drawer, the second for the cabinet where medicines are stored, and the third for "other stuff" like art supplies that were not meant to be accessible 24/7. It gave me a lot of peace of mind!
I love how inviting the work looks for a snack. I have snacks available, but nothing pre-prepared like that.
ReplyDeleteHow might you set something like this up with 3 kids and limited space? If I set it up, they will all run for it at the same time haha
Maybe you could have a "snack window" on your schedule in the morning, such as 10:00-10:45 (or whatever makes sense for your routine). So at 9:55 you set out the materials, enough so that each child gets exactly one serving. If they need a demo, you could set out enough for you to prepare yourself a snack while they watch. Then it's available for that period of time and you put it away. If you think that won't work and they will ALL want to eat at the same time, that's fine, too! Just set up their places at a low table so that they each have their own ingredients and they can work in parallel. That way snack time can include some lessons in Grace and Courtesy and how to make chit chat/take turns/be careful not to talk with your mouth full, etc. That may have a wonderful impact on dinnertime conversation and overall civilized behavior!
DeleteAs far as space, this is on a very small table that is at the end of our kitchen island. It think it cost less than $5 at a garage sale and is the perfect height for a small child to stand and work at, then eat at a different table. We have one low cabinet with children's utensils, plates and cups, but you could also have one of those rolling carts that are so popular right now--as long as you don't expect a small child to reach things too high. Side note: I installed three locks in our cupboards/closets as soon as we moved into this house with small children. The first was for the knife drawer, the second for the cabinet where medicines are stored, and the third for "other stuff" like art supplies that were not meant to be accessible 24/7. It gave me a lot of peace of mind!
ReplyDelete